As the ranks of the elderly increase with the advancing age of the baby boomers, there exists a wide variety of medical and physical infirmities that can afflict this population. Among one of the more common ailments are those affecting the knees, hips and back that limit the ability of the individual to walk without aid or to bend over to pick up an object lying on the ground. Other groups of individuals with walking difficulties can include those injured by an accident or other medical conditions that make it difficult for them to walk without the aid of a cane of some other type of support. Therefore, a number of prior art canes have been described to provide an individual with a cane and/or a cane that also includes an apparatus, forming a permanent part of the cane, for grasping objects at a distance from the user.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,800, 5,636,650 and 5,640,985 all describe hollow canes in which tension applied to a cable extending within the hollow cane body causes a grasping arm pivotally mounted near the lower rubber tip of the cane to pivot inward, closing a gap against the rubber tip in order to grasp an object.
Other patents describe a mechanism extending external to the body of the cane for moving a pivotally mounted grasping arm. U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,160 discloses a grasping arm that is pulled into contact with the rubber cane tip by means of a cable extending along the outside of the cane, with the cable being pulled by pivoting a lever near the cane handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,321 to Kuciauskas discloses a grabber and a combined cane and grabber. In the combined cane and grabber, the cane is made of two pieces such that in one alignment the apparatus acts as a standard cane with a “T” handle. By lifting the apparatus off of the ground and pivoting the two cane halves 360 degrees relative to each other, the apparatus acts as a grabber by utilizing the “T” handle ends as ears and lugs for grabbing objects off of the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,533 discloses a walking cane with a larger foot member that includes a plurality of forward and downward integrally dependant legs which rigidly extent from the lower member of the support member. This provides additional support and stability to the base of the cane for elderly and infirm individuals to aid in walking.
All of the patents described above require structural differences between the cane being described and a conventional cane to an extent that a conventional cane cannot be readily modified to perform in accordance with the described invention. What is needed is, however, is a cost effective means to provide those requiring assistance in walking with a walking cane that can be easily converted into a grasping device to allow them to securely grasp and safely hold objects that are out of their normal reach. A further object of this invention is to provide a combination walking cane and grasping device with a means for easily converting the walking cane tip into a broader base for those requiring additional stability when walking.
None of these, or other references known to the inventor, treat the problem addressed by the invention, that is, provide a safe, stable and secure walking cane which provides rigid stationary support, while allowing easy use of the device as a grasping tool.